(04-27-2014 03:57 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote: I watched last night's NY Yankees' game against the LA angels o FS1. I couldn't believe that the Yankees had sunk to broadcasting games on FS1.
No doubt this is a harbinger of disaster for this once. Proud franchise. I expect that this is the beginning of the end for them and we will soon be hearing reports that the franchise is folding and going out of business.
As we are all well aware, no sports entity can survive - much less thrive - when their games are being broadcast on FS1.
Melky there are a handful of differences between the Big East's FS1 deal and the New York Yankees and MLB playing on FS1.
1. Yankees are not playing every game on FS1. If they were that would be a huge boost to a network that needs high level content.
2. The Yankees are an established brand that they could play games on any network and draw solid ratings. The might be the strongest brand in American sports.
3. Baseball's revenue model is different than college basketball.
4. The Big East, the weakened version created by the C7 doesn't have the TV fan bases or enough big TV brands to build FS1.
5. Baseball's TV deals are local in nature and fans usually don't watch teams other than their own play. Major college conference have national TV deals. Fans of college sports tend to watch their own team, rivals, and the major brands play.
6. Baseball has 162 regular season games, college basketball has 31, college football has 12.
FS1 and the Big East made a deal that is bad on both ends. The Big East's audience is dropping and FS1 isn't building their brand. If FS1 can get the Big Ten that helps FS1, but it also might help the Big East if more people watch that network; however, they could bump the Big East into crummy spots on FS2 and FS1, while the Big Ten, Big XII, and PAC-12 get top picks.
The C7 schools should have stuck with ESPN and FS1 needs the Big Ten or the NFL to draw better numbers.